


peculiar times at Halloweenville Community College

by caimani



Category: Jonas Brothers, Waterparks (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Community College, Dragons, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:08:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24635071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caimani/pseuds/caimani
Summary: Jawn doesn't have the biggest aspirations in life. He's working in retail, going to community college with the hopes of figuring out a career goal, and trying to hide his longtime crush on his best friend Awsten. Things get complicated when Awsten asks that they pretend to date to avoid awkwardness with his lab partner Joe. From there, Jawn's simple problems start multiplying into convoluted messes... and he's not sure he can keep everything from spectacularly falling apart.
Relationships: Awsten Knight/Jawn Rocha, Nick Jonas/Kyle Knight
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8





	peculiar times at Halloweenville Community College

**Author's Note:**

> **quick guide to who's what**  
>  Awsten: cloudy moon werewolf  
> Kyle: cloudy moon werewolf  
> Jawn: desert moon werewolf  
> Geoff: snowy moon werewolf  
> Otto: cornfield cryptid  
> Lucas: leshy  
> Asher (oc): gray smoke phoenix  
> Alexis (oc): orange fire phoenix  
> Nick: fog dragon  
> Joe: ice dragon  
> Kevin: water dragon

It’s eight o’clock in the evening on a Sunday and all Jawn wants to do is drive home from work, eat the leftovers in the fridge, and go to sleep. He doesn’t want to think about customers, he doesn’t want to think about how he’s got a presentation to do in Public Speaking in the morning (that he hasn’t practiced— but hey, that’s what the morning is for), and most importantly of all…

He doesn’t want to answer his phone, which has been buzzing insistently in his pocket for the entirety of the last hour. 

But Jawn knows it’s Awsten that’s been trying to call him, so he sits down in his car, sighs very deeply, and answers.

“JAWN! Thank god I finally got you,” Awsten says, sounding frantic. “I’m having a crisis. Like, it’s so bad. I might have cried actual tears. Oh god, I’m losing my mind. I need to talk to someone and get advice.”

“Why can’t you ask someone who wasn’t at work all evening?” Jawn says. He considers turning on the engine, but decides against it. If he’s going to end up driving to Awsten’s place to help him out, then he wants to at least have a brief physical break in between work and Awsten. 

“I can’t— nobody can help me out like you,” Awsten says. “Plus I can’t get ahold of Lucas. You’re my only hope. Well… the only one who won’t spill this to Kyle,” he adds, his voice going suddenly soft.

Jawn raises an eyebrow. “So this crisis has something to do with him?”

“Yes,” Awsten says, then shakes his head. “No. Sort of. Okay, so you know Joe? Joe Jonas?”

Jawn bites his lip to keep from letting out an unnecessarily dry retort. Of course Jawn knows Joe Jonas. Funny, popular (for a community college campus), and major source of frustration for Jawn since they all started classes earlier in the year. Joe has been Awsten’s lab partner for Bio and they get along so well that Jawn is sure they’re going to start dating any day now. Jawn should have mustered up his courage to ask Awsten out after their high school graduation, before the irritating dragon showed up. 

Thankfully, Awsten doesn’t notice the discontented expression on Jawn’s face, because he just keeps talking.

“Yeah, so I was at his place this afternoon so we could work on our homework together. And you know how his family has that really nice basement? So we were down there together…”

Oh god, Jawn can already see it coming. He feels sick to his stomach. He struggles to hold it together, because he still loves and cares about Awsten. If Awsten is about to tell him that he finally kissed Joe Jonas or whatever, then Jawn is going to have to just learn how to move on.

Impossible. He’s been in love with Awsten for too long to even think about moving on.

“And he said he liked me. And he wants to go out with me.”

“Cool.” Jawn forces himself to say.

“What?” Awsten says. “No. This isn’t cool. I fucking panicked and said I’d think about it and fucking bolted out of there. I looked like such an idiot. Jawn, what am I supposed to do? He’s been texting me and I accidentally might have made it seem like I’m interested in someone else, but I’m not.”

Jawn stares at Awsten’s face on his phone for a few seconds. “You’re not into him?”

“No,” Awsten says. “I wasn’t even— okay look, Kyle would murder me if I told you this, so don’t tell anyone, but he’s been crushing on Joe’s brother Nick. And like, part of what I’ve been doing, going to their place, is trying to find out what Nick likes to help him out. So he can figure out mutual interests or something. Joe’s cool, and he’s a great classmate and all, but I’m not interested in him.”

“Oh,” Jawn says. He lets this new information sink in.

Oh.

Awsten’s not interested in Joe.

“So what do I tell him?” Awsten says, putting his face closer to his face camera, so one eye fills up most of the screen. “What do I do? How do I get out of this while not making things awkward and still being able to go over to his place for hot wings and their mom’s pink lemonade?”

Jawn rubs at his face. “I’ll come over and help you out. I’m still in the parking lot at work.” He finally starts the engine and turns on his headlights. “What’s the conversation been like?”

Awsten proceeds to read through one of the most awkward and catastrophic series of texts Jawn has ever heard. 

‘I’m sorry if I scared you.’  
‘You didn’t. I’m sorry.’  
‘You don’t have to give me an answer if you don’t know yet.’  
‘I actually already have someone.’  
‘Oh shit I didn’t know.’  
‘We’re not together officially yet.’  
‘Is it someone I know? You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.’  
‘I don’t know if you know them.’  
‘Okay.’

Jawn pulls up to Awsten’s house and ends the call. Awsten is already waiting for him out in the dark.

“So you lied and told him that you’re into someone else, when in fact you’re not into someone else,” Jawn says. 

Awsten looks guilty. “Yes. So… do you think I can talk one of our friends into pretending for me? Just until the end of the semester. I just don’t want to mess up class with Joe.”

“It sounds like you’ve already made it awkward all on your own,” Jawn says. He runs his hands through his hair. “But, I don’t know, you can probably fix that. Maybe do a study group next time. Hell, bring Kyle over. He’s in Ethics with you and Nick, right? Use that as an excuse.”

Awsten goes pale. “Uh…” 

Jawn walks past him to sit down on the grass outside Awsten’s house. It’s chilly— it would be the perfect night to shift into wolf form and just hang out together like he used to do all the time with Awsten in high school. But it’s just not the right time. 

“So you need a fake relationship,” he says.

Awsten sits down next to him. “Yeah. I mean… do you think I can talk Otto into helping me out? He’s boyfriend material, sort of.”

Jawn shakes his head. “Don’t ask Otto. He’ll make things weird. Why can’t you just explain that you panicked and that you just want to be friends? Or lab partners, or whatever.”

Awsten holds up his phone to Jawn’s face, showing him the text conversation again. “This is why! If I say the wrong thing, I’m going to ruin this and I won’t be able to look at him in class anymore and I’ll either have to drop the class out of shame or kill him and I don’t think I can kill him because he’s a dragon and his brothers are kind of scary.”

Jawn just nods. Alright, he’ll go along with Awsten’s reasoning. 

“Okay. So… fake boyfriend.”

“Or girlfriend,” Awsten says. “You think I could talk Alexis into pretending for like two months?”

Jawn can’t help his laugh. “No.” 

Awsten slumps over. “Yeah, I didn’t think so either. Asher’s too… scary… and I can’t ask Geoff because Joe knows who he is…” He trails off, muttering about all their other friends who are similarly unavailable or unlikely to help.

Jawn takes a breath to try to steady himself. “I could do it,” he says. “For you,” he adds and immediately wants to kick himself.

Awsten looks at him with wide eyes. “Oh my god… really?”

Jawn nods, not trusting himself to say anything ridiculously cheesy. Or, even worse, say something mushy that could betray just how long he’s been head over heels for Awsten. 

Awsten brightens up. “That’s perfect! Fuck! Okay, let me text him.”

Jawn watches Awsten type out the words, ‘It’s my best friend Jawn. I’ve been waiting for the right time to ask him out’ and feels something solid and heavy grow in his chest. It isn’t exactly the butterflies and rays of moonlight he’d always get when imagining dating Awsten. But that’s fine. This is just going to be for two months or so. Nothing will change. 

Joe responds with, ‘He’s the guy you talk about all the time right? That’s cute’ and Jawn’s mind starts racing, wondering what Awsten has told Joe about him. 

Awsten breathes a sigh of relief. “Okay, we’ll need to come up with a story. I’ll ask you out after classes tomorrow, and I can talk about it with Joe. I think he’ll buy it.”

“Yeah,” Jawn says. Now the butterflies are here, but the heaviness in his chest hasn’t left. He’s not feeling good about this after all. “Alright. Um. Is it going to be public… or…?” 

Awsten shrugs, texting something else to Joe. “It doesn’t matter. We can figure that out in the morning. I think I’ll be good now. Thank you so much Jawn, you’re a lifesaver. You literally saved my life. You’re the best friend ever.”

“Awesome,” Jawn says. “Glad I can help.”

Awsten’s smile twitches. “You alright? You seem tense… did something happen at work?”

Jawn shakes his head. “No, work was fine. I just have this thing in Public Speaking tomorrow and I’m not ready for it.”

Awsten’s eyes go wide. “Shit, dude, you want to practice it with me? I could get Kyle to be part of the audience too—”

“No, I don’t have my note cards with me,” Jawn lies. “It’s alright, I’ll go over it in the morning.”

Awsten is quiet for a moment. “That’s it? Everything else alright? This isn’t too much, is it?”

“No, it’s not,” Jawn says. “I’m happy to help you out, Awsten, I promise. Everything’s going to go fine. Just… yeah, just figure out what you want to do and I’ll go along with it.”

“Mm hm,” Awsten says. He glances at his phone again. “Yeah. Well, I don’t want to keep you out all night. See you tomorrow. Good luck on the speech thing.” He gives Jawn a quick but firm hug and slaps his back amiably. 

Jawn waves as he gets back in his car. He manages to hold himself together until he’s about five minutes from Awsten’s place. He breathes, tries to focus on the road, the signs, the lights. He passes all the familiar landscape, takes in the crisp autumn air coming in through his open window.

Finally, Jawn pulls into the parking space outside his apartment. He turns off the engine and sits in the car for a moment. Suddenly, he yells so loudly that he breaks into a howl. He slams his forehead against the steering wheel and clenches his hands into fists. 

He’s fucked.

**Author's Note:**

> ?????? yeah I dont know either. I havent posted anything in like. three months because Ive been quilting and now I have this


End file.
